Some critics believe that the Virginia county voted unanimously to celebrate its Transgender Day of Visibility on Easter Sunday this year.

Fairfax Board of Supervisors approved the proclamation 9-0 last week. Patrick Herrity, Republican Supervisor, was absent.

According to LGBTQ+ organizations and advocates, TDOV is usually celebrated on March 31, which is Easter this year. Easter does not always fall on the same date for Catholics and Protestants. It can be as early as March 22, or as late at April 25, according to LGBTQ+ advocates and organizations.

“I am very pleased that we are recognizing a group that has been pushed too far into the background and celebrating another community in our diverse tapestry of Fairfax County,” said Supervisor Jimmy Bierman during the vote.

Bierman, who was one of nine members to request the proclamation added that the county wanted “to ensure that everyone who is a part our community feels welcome, feels loved, and feels empowered.”

James Walkinshaw of the Democratic board, referring Herrity’s absenteeism, said he was “looking forward to a day when we will have a full podium for this proclamation and that day is coming.”

County Board Chairman Jeff McKay (a Democrat) said the proclamation was part of his “moral duty to stand up for everyone, not just those we like or agree with.”

Stephanie Lundquist Arora, a Virginia mother and Fairfax Chapter Leader of the Independent Women’s Network (a nonprofit organization whose mission is to empower conservative women by providing them with a private, online forum that allows them to influence and inspire their communities), called the decision’reprehensible’.

Lundquist Arora, in a Fox News Digital statement, said that the board members are “not simply trying to make people feel accepted as transgender.”

She said: “By voting for Easter to be Transgender Visibility Day this year, they intentionally try to offend Christians during the holiest day by forcing gender ideologies down their throats.” This is repugnant and unworthy of our elected officials.

Human Rights Campaign, a group that advocates for LGBTQ+ rights, says TDOV is a way to acknowledge “significant progress” in recent years.

GLAAD, a non-profit organization that monitors LGBTQ+ media, puts TDOV into a political context. On its website, the group claims that “all trans people” are harmed by so-called anti-LGBTQ+ laws such as those restricting surgery and hormone prescriptions to children.

GLAAD says: “It’s important that trans people are seen in authentic, diverse and accurate stories, which reflect their actual lived experiences, both for them and for people who think they’ve never encountered a trans person.” This includes the news media where trans people are often not represented in coverage of anti-trans policies and laws that affect their lives.

Fairfax County’s proclamation coincides with a movement in more conservative states that seeks to restrict both nonsurgical and surgical transgender procedures on minors. In states such as Idaho and North Dakota as well as Alabama, Florida, and Alabama, it is a crime to perform surgery on minors, including sex change procedures.

Several states have passed “shield legislation” to protect transgender individuals from these procedures. These states include California Oregon Washington Arizona New Mexico Colorado New York Vermont New Jersey Rhode Island Illinois Massachusetts Massachusetts Massachusetts Massachusetts Massachusetts Massachusetts Massachusetts Massachusetts Massachusetts Massachusetts Massachusetts Massachusetts Massachusetts Massachusetts Massachusetts Massachusetts Massachusetts Massachusetts Massachusetts Massachusetts Massachusetts Massachusetts Massachusetts Massachusetts Massachusetts Massachusetts Massachusetts Massachusetts Massachusetts Massachusetts Illinois Massachusetts Massachusetts Massachusetts Massachusetts Massachusetts Massachusetts Massachusetts Massachusetts Massachusetts Massachusetts Massachusetts Massachusetts Massachusetts Massachusetts Massachusetts Massachusetts Massachusetts Massachusetts Massachusetts Massachusetts Massachusetts Massachusetts Massachusetts Massachusetts Massachusetts Massachusetts Massachusetts Massachusetts